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Hi I'm Melissa Ellen

I'm a Mormon.

About Me

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I'm a full-time college student in the United States. I'm studying physiology and chemistry. I love learning more about how the world and the human body work! I also love to play the piano and draw. Someday I want to travel all the way around the world.

Why I am a Mormon

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I have been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints my whole life. I am grateful to have grown up as a Mormon. Although some people feel that the standards of the Mormon church are restrictive, I appreciate the guidance they provided to me in my growing-up years.
Although I have been a member of the church my entire life, it was still important that I decide for myself whether or not I believed the teachings of the church. I remember distinctly a summer day when I was about fifteen when I was sitting outside reading in the Bible. I had been praying, asking to know if the church was true. I wasn't really sure what getting an answer would feel like, but as I read Job 19:25-26 where Job bears testimony of the Living Christ, I was overcome by a feeling of love and warmth. I will never forget that day or that feeling. It is truly amazing that the Almighty God feels that a fifteen-year-old girl is important enough that she merits an answer to a simple prayer, but I know that my prayer was answered that day. I know that every sincere prayer is answered. And like Job, "I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth...and yet in my flesh shall I see God..."

How I live my faith

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I attend church every Sunday. I am fortunate to live close to the building where my congregation meets and I enjoy walking to church on the days that the weather is nice.
About a year ago I had the wonderful opportunity to help in the children's Sunday school (known as Primary.) It was my responsibility to help the children learn songs about Christ and stories from the scriptures. Working in the Primary was an incredible experience. Children have such sweet spirits and I enjoyed spending time with them, often learning more from them than they could have learned from me.

What are some things that tell to you there is a God?

Melissa Ellen

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In my university studies, I learn in-depth detail about the functions of the human body. Every day I feel more deeply the presence of God.
A renowned heart surgeon once explained very well my feelings:
"Through the ages, some without scriptural understanding have tried to explain our existence by pretentious words such as ex nihilo (out of nothing). Others have deduced that, because of certain similarities between different forms of life, there has been an organic evolution from one form to another. Many of these have concluded that the universe began as a “big bang” that eventually resulted in the creation of our planet and life upon it.
To me, such theories are unbelievable! Could an explosion in a printing shop produce a dictionary? It is unthinkable! Even if it could be argued to be within a remote realm of possibility, such a dictionary could certainly not heal its own torn pages or renew its own worn corners or reproduce its own subsequent editions!" --Russell M. Nelson (“The Magnificence of Man,” New Era, Oct 1987)
While some people believe that science and religion are mutually exclusive, I feel that nothing could be farther from the truth. Learning about the systems of the body that all function in concert to sustain life never ceases to amaze me. What's more, the fact that these systems all function without any conscious direction on my part increases my wonder.
In an address to university students, Douglas L. Callister said, "With its 107 million cells, connected to the brain by over 1 million neurons, the eye is more perfect than any camera ever invented. It caused Charles Darwin to humbly admit, 'That the eye with all its inimitable contrivances … could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest sense.' "
Elder Callister went on to quote Paul Brand, renowned orthopedic hand surgeon: “We use our hands for the most wonderful activities: art, music, writing, healing, touching. Some people go to concerts and athletic events to watch the performance; I go to watch hands. For me, a piano performance is a ballet of fingers—a glorious flourish of ligaments and joints, tendons, nerves, and muscles.” (Douglas L. Callister, “Our God Truly Is God,” Ensign, Jan 2008)
The greatest testimony of God's presence to me is my body. My hands, my eyes, my brain, my immune system, and my heart all witness to me that God is great, and that he truly is the Grand Author of the Universe. There may be no other explanation.Show moreShow less

This biologist uses the scientific method every day in his professional life, but in his personal life, Kevin Livingstone relies on a different set of tools for answering big questions about life on earth.